Top positive review
251 people found this helpful
Your kids will love it. You will, too. Bring supplementary tools.
By Wendy T on Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2013
I was looking for something fun to do with the kiddies and remembered seeing this or something like it in a museum gift shop. Immediately found this one with Amazon search tools and bought it on the basis of the Smithsonian brand. I bought a competitor, too. The plaster is neutrally colored and despite some worries I found that it washed right off the concrete on my dad's porch. The kids of course loved the digging and especially the brushing away of dust from the bones, which is of course the part that makes even a grown adult feel more like Robert Bakker. In that connection, provided tools are as I recall a little paintbrush, a round wooden "chisel," and a very light wooden hammer. These are adequate to the task of excavation, but it will take a while. For younger children you may wish to consider using a cold chisel and a light "real" hammer despite the risk of damaging the "fossils," which latter are by the way made of a rather softish plastic. The skeleton is to my moderately practiced eyeballs basically anatomically correct (at least one competitor has the ilia reversed) and stands up reasonably well to moderate playtime use by juvenile hominids once assembled. The wee ones needed a little help assembling the skeleton, which is in about a dozen pieces. Recreational disarticulations can be addressed effectively with application of a small amount of plastic cement or similar. Overall, a great time and not too big a mess. Good I'd say for basically-normal kids from about 5 to about 15. As there is to my knowledge nobody in my immediate family who is basically normal, I'll note that it's probably good for nerds ranging from 3 to 30.
Top critical review
36 people found this helpful
Eh.. There are better products..
By Jon&Rach on Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2017
Our kids (ages 5-8) love these excavation kits. We have tried the GeoWorld brand and this one. I will list the Pro's and Con's of both brands. GeoWorld: Pros - The fossil replica is more sturdy and not as flimsy or likely to break. The tools provided are better quality, made of sturdy hard plastic (not the cheap ones that will like bend and break). The brush it comes with is much better than the Smithsonian brush. Cons - Does not include goggles. The clay is much harder to chisel away (as stated by my kids), probably better for older kids. Smithsonian: Pros - Better packaging (probably better for gift-giving). Includes goggles which is essential with all the debris coming off the clay. Clay is easier to break (better suited for younger kids). Also comes with a nice poster of the dinosaur and information about it. Cons - Fossil replica is not sturdy. It is made of inferior plastic that bend and break easily. Bits of the plastic broke off when chiseling the clay. The brush is a poor quality paint brush that you get from the dollar store. Has very thin bristles that are pretty much useless. We ended up using the GeoWorld brush instead. The hammer tool is a wooded hammer and the chisel is simply a cheap wooden spike. Again we ended up using the GeoWorld tools. I would not purchase again mainly due to the fact that product is of lesser quality than the GeoWorld product. However for gift giving, it is probably better due to the goggles included (for safety purposes).
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